Pain and bleed and pain and hurt.
Ever so slowly, They made Their way across the endless, scarlet sand. The slight strip of red on the horizon told her that day was coming, but it just made the night seem darker. The sand stood out harshly against the jet black sky. What little light cast by the moon reflected off the ground, casting eerie, menacing shadows under Their eyes and cheekbones. They glanced down at Their trembling feet; the sweat had collected tiny scarlet grains between their toes. It was hot underfoot, like walking on coals shaped like knives. They stabbed and bit and tore at Their flesh. It was like crawling along a giant echidna's body. Agonising. Slow. Pointless. But He was there. And it was good. Like The Garden of Eden, in the Bible. Until that chick [Steve?] ate the apple. She froze, leaning into His delicious embrace for comfort. How did that story end anyway?
Probably badly.
They stopped, and the imaginary coals seemed to impale their feet, rooting them to the spot. His eyes were on hers. She couldn't move even if she wasn't nailed to the sand. His eyes. Staring deep into hers. Inhumanly deep! Caressing her brain...so gently. Her legs melted slightly beneath her body as he touched her face. Icy cold digits on frozen rock-like features. Resistance was futile. He probed further. Through the barriers she put up like curtains for everyone to see. He threw them aside, desperately searching for the real her under all that heavy, dense fabric. Finding every secret she'd ever held and clasping it like something valued. The time she smashed Mum's favourite mug, held firmly against His chest. The time she let her sisters take the punishment, gripped in His strong hands. Every tear, bejewelling His face. Every stupid hurt, marked on His arms. Every fucking time she failed herself, laid out before Him like a banquet.
And slowly...He smiled.
He saw everything wrong with her. Flaws. Imperfections. Deep emotional scars that ran through her veins. Scars that never really did heal. She was broken and rubbish. And He loved it. He traced her face and drew around the full shape of her lips. She could've fainted with joy at the moment. Everything was peaceful, save for Their ragged breathing and the whoosh of sed sand whipping Their hair. Peace. For once. Just her and Him. And Him and her. And sweet, gentle whispers of affection. His moan eventually twirled out into a confession of weakness. She wasn't hearing it. To her, He was perfect. She leaned in, to kiss His soft mouth. Longing for Him. Desperation for Him. Hunger for Him.
And she kissed Him. At the point of impact, a black bruise spread over Him like a disease. It consumed Him. Dissolved Him. Until He lay in a pool of black tar. It stuck to her clothes as the truth struck home.
She killed Him with her kiss.

"Tell me." Al repeated, her voice shaky. Her eyes couldn't quite meet his, but darted out onto the blurry windscreen. The car pounded relentlessly on the road, speeding dangerously fast and diving through the grey puddles of rain. The roof groaned and protested as the heavens poured down their buckets of water on the four-wheel drive. The radio continued in the background, tuned onto a news station. Nothing on them yet. Back at home, they would only just have noticed them gone. Her family would be asleep, innocent to the pain hurtling their way when they woke. Tears over cereal in the early morning. Teddy bears clutched in dressing-gown arms. Lunches brought over by friends. She twisted The Blooded Heart in her grip, entwining the chain on itself until it tightened, noose-like, against her neck. Frank looked at her, hypnotised. Al stared openly back at him; she was no longer afraid of his reaction. Her hand gripped his firmly. Traced it slowly with her black fingernails. Gently. She settled for this touch, though she ached to do more. A tiny little hesitation. On his side, this time. She snapped her head to focus on some other part of him. Anything else but those searching, finding eyes. She looked at his delicate, beautiful throat, afraid of never resurfacing from those alluring eyes. Another awkward moment. It was silent in the back seat, besides Mikey's quiet moans of "Ruby" every three seconds. She was tired. Tired of running. Tired of sacrificing everything and everyone she had for something...something ...that she didn't even understand. Or want, for that matter. Her hands curled around the chain, ready to tear it off her throat. Throw it out the window. It would return, she was sure of that. Frank opened his mouth. And closed it again. "The whole story?" he said softly. Almost terrified. Gently, he squeezed her hand. "Everything." Al replied, uncharacteristically coldly.

Frank pulled over about half-an-hour later. He slipped out of the car, just clumsily enough for Al to catch a glimpse of the white skin under his shirt. Her breath quickened. Why could he just do that? With a brush of cold skin against hers. Or a glance at her with those delicious, brown eyes. A word from his amazing lips. She realised that she was sitting in her seat still, seatbelt held tight against her body. Frank made a motion for her to wind down the window. Her shaking fingers reached for the handle. She couldn't concentrate. A thousand...no, a million...fantasies filled her mind until it fogged over. What would he look like, without a shirt? She pushed down the handle [no fancy-schmancy buttons there] and was greeted with his gaze. A small, reluctant smile on his mouth that she'd just dreamed of kissing. Her hands gripped her knees until the knuckles grew grey. Al hoped he couldn't read minds, too.

"Get out." He said softly. His breath made no fog on the window. Al undid her seatbelt and opened the door. Behind her, Gerard woke with a soft little moan. She could hear him muttering objections, but then he fell asleep again. Soft snuffles and murmurs followed. He shifted. On Izz's shoulder. Al couldn't help but smile. It was so cute. Her thoughts were interrupted with the slamming of a door. Almost instantly, Frank had a hand, cold and inhuman, clutched around her waist. He chuckled at her jump and slid his other arm around. Al's brain screamed for her to push him away, but something deeper urged her on. Slowly, as Frank pulled her close and tight against his surprisingly slender chest, she opened her mouth. Whether it was to speak or to kiss, Al wasn't quite sure. Her mouth trembled and she breathed into his face...so close..."Car." Frank looked at her with some emotion she didn't recognize. Then, he opened his mouth and laughed louder than she'd ever heard before. It echoed around the empty plane, which Al had only just noticed then, like a there were a million Frank's shouting liquid joy in the sky. She pretended to look hurt as he stopped. He stared at her, as if unsure what to think of the new vampire. "Of all the words you could've said at that moment. You said car/. I was expecting /I love you or at least a /Frankie/!" He said the last word with a convincing strain and slightly higher, like it was Alison, infatuated and crazy with love. Al scowled and punched his arm.

"I'm not talking near the car, Frank." She growled jokingly, taking him up in her arms like a month ago. This time, he didn't protest or laugh, just lay there with a blissful smile on his face. He draped his white arms around her neck and sat his head near her collarbone. His quick little breaths tickled. Al carried him away, until she found a tree. It was just a skeleton of its former self, its leaves abandoned, red and orange, at its feet. Al sat Frank down in the leaves and the moon glared down, hostile and menacing. She smiled as he tugged her hand and pulled her beside him. She fell with a soft oomph! on the blanket of warmth. They sat there, just like they sat on the lounge, in absolute stillness. All they could hear was their own, ragged breathing. She watched his chest rise and fall with every gasp that flooded his already-dead lungs. Her hand lay on his stomach, enjoying the feeling of falling up and down, moving with the noise of his gulps of air. It was lovely. Peaceful. Just Frank and Al. And Al and Frank. She placed a hand on his and let her head rest just beside his face. "The Blooded Heart." Al breathed. Straight into his ear. Pretending his insides didn't just melt; Frank rolled his eyes and gave her a glare to make her shrivel. It was only playful and lasted no longer than five seconds. When it dissolved, it left a soft fear on his face, like the tide left the starfish to die in the sun. Al ran a finger down his nose. She let it flow down his body like a trickle of blood, stopping just short of his bellybutton. "Please tell me...Everything." She added gently, not just wanting snippets of the whole picture.

"Okay..." Frank said darkly, like a sulky child. He didn't seem happy at all, but he smiled humourlessly. His fingers touched the jewel lightly, more out of gruesome curiosity, than greediness for it. It burned happily. Stupid, really. To enjoy his touch even when scared stiff. Al smiled slightly, and undid the chain from her throat. The clasp opened with a sigh and the whole thing lay in her palm on his stomach, tingling strangely. "That thing...is just-" he brushed her fist with the back of his hand and seemed to make up his mind to tell her. Everything. "-evil. It's unfair that you should have it. I mean..." Al twitched slightly. He was being so cryptic, but it sort of made a twisted kind of sense. Drugs strapped to a child are evil...but that child doesn't deserve to carry them, do they? Al began drawing little circles in his flesh with her hand before she asked. "What does it do, Frank?" He froze. Frank sighed and faced her again. So close. There was no smile. No playful frown. There was no sign of happiness in his voice at all as he whispered. "It'll do whatever you say. Now. In the future. Even the past." He slowly prised it from her hand and breathed. "Watch." The word coated her face like the cold around them. There was a reluctance in his voice. If he used The Blooded Heart, he'd be just as terrible as Lincoln. Not if I use it for good! He reminded himself sternly. Al had her eyes fixed on his face curiously and Frank shifted in slight discomfort. The circles were getting tighter and smaller and faster on his stomach. Wrecking his concentration. Forcing his mind to race like midnight lightning. Making not kissing her harder and harder...and harder. Slowly, Frank opened his mouth [to kiss or to speak?], hesitated and breathed: "Gerard kisses Izz." The words had a strange power to them, like it was being spoken through a line of megaphones turned on full volume. But it was still quiet. The red thing glowed through the tips of his fingers. The feeling of power shuddered through the plane. It rattled her bones and she curled tighter next to him. Then, it stopped. And eerie stillness choked the air.

Both their heads spun around to their car, watching the once-still shadows behind the windows move in the pre-/pre/-dawn. Al waited. Frank waited. And then it happened. Even so far away, they heard Izz wake with a gasp and the gentle groan of "Gee.". Much shifting went on, stroking and such. Al could imagine Izz's hot, excited pulse through her mouth, burning joyfully under Gee's lips. A kiss. All she wanted. All Izz got. Gerard whispered her name to the world. Proud of Izz Rowlatt. Needing Izz Rowlatt. Getting Izz Rowlatt. He murmured something that sounded romantic and French. The shadows twisted a little more. Gerard climbing over the seat? Al turned back to Frank. The slurping noises were beginning to grow slightly disturbing, and hurt like tiny bullets in her arteries. It ached even more to see his face. His eyes. His /LIPS/! Why couldn't she have a kiss, for fuck's sake? Even a peck would do. Gently, Frank whispered a command for them to stop, and Al realised that he felt it too. Like someone had stabbed a knife deep in her chest and was twisting and twisting and twisting...like a malnourished kid watching a restaurant ad. He touched her hand. It twisted more. "You see?"

Al nodded, but she didn't quite understand. This could cure cancer. This could stop global warming. SAVE THE TREES! Al internally rolled her eyes. Blah, blah, blah. She was starting to sound like Miss Universe! "World Peace"" So...why is it so bad?" Frank gave her a look of exaggerated patience. She smiled, but there was no returning the grin. His hand found her stomach and made icy little circles with his finger. He breathed into Al's thrilled ear. "What if someone ordered my murder? Or genocide? What if you accidentally kill me?" He paused for effect, and started writing Frank on her shirt with his finger. "What if you changed the past so I never existed?" That hurt. She nodded understandingly. His mouth twitched up slightly. Al took the Heart off him gently and sighed. She stuffed it in her pocket. Stupid thing. As soon as she tore it from his grip, Gerard and Izz kept going. The order to stop was no longer in power. It grew louder and louder. More and more irritating with every moment. Like that bloody crazy frog ring-tone. It stopped suddenly with a groan of "EEWW!" Someone woke in the car and judging from the yells of disapproval, it was Ruby. The yells echoed through the world. The whole Earth was privileged to hear Ruby's lecture on the dangers of PDA. From what they could hear, if one was to perform acts of affection around Ruby, one was in extreme danger of her foot colliding with their...treasures...Al couldn't help but laugh at this, and Frank stared at her incredulously. After e few moments when the stomach-tracing ceased, he rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you! You're insane!" he paused, stuffing a giggle back into his stomach. No, he wouldn't laugh. After a few seconds where Ruby's screams of disgust filled the plane, he opened his mouth. "Caaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr!" Frank groaned, dragging it out for as long as he could. "Oh Frankie...caaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!"

They didn't know why, but this sent them off. Al yelled her laugh into the air, rolling in the leaves and clutching her stomach. Her head was dizzy like she was drunk. Maybe she was. The "water" at Ruby's house did look pretty suspicious. This made her clutch her stomach harder, laughing like a maniac. Frank did the same, but with some childish leg-kicking thrown in. He howled and snorted, accidentally ramming his head against the skeleton-tree. A few leaves fell from its already naked branches. Hush. He yelped in pain. Al released a snort that carried through the Universe like a tidal wave of mirth. He scowled playfully and punched her shoulder. Perfect silence, this time. For a reason not known to either of them, his hand stayed there. Icy and hard. Rough. It felt so right. So good. Al froze. He hesitated, brushing a hair from her face. He drew in a shuddering breath. "You don't want me. Do you?" he whispered finally, tears gathering in his eyes. She reached up and brushed the salty emotion off his cheeks. So soft. So right. She couldn't think straight. Clung to his face. Dragged him down onto the leaves with her. Without even thinking, she brought his face down beside hers, so that his nose touched the decaying blanket of red and her lips brushed his ear with every syllable. A finger ran down his spine. "I love you, Frankie. I just...don't want to hurt you." Frank smiled, inhaling her scent. His nose touched her collarbone. Throat. Chin. Lips. Then, it reached her nose. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Her brain SCREAMED for her to push him away. Don't hurt him. Al paused. It would hurt him more not to do this. It would hurt her, too. Al would hate herself if she didn't go through with this. She couldn't stand one more twist of that wretched knife of emotion. Deep inside her chest. Twisting. Tearing. Hurting. She stiffened gently, indecisiveness flooding her dizzy mind. Then, her mind simply evaporated. Frank rubbed his nose against hers and sighed in ardour. His eyes looked even more alluring up close. She could drown in them. It hurt to look at for too long, like the squiggly bit in the middle of a light bulb, but she kept going. His eyes searched hers for agonising minutes and he finally whispered: [straight into her nose; very uncomfortable]

"You leave, I leave with you. No hurt. No tears. You and me." The words You and Me felt so good to hear. They tasted even better to her drunken lack of brain when he groaned some incomprehensibly fervent word. She would've laughed, if she wasn't trembling in eagerness. It sounded French. After a few moments, when she finally translated it from nonsense, she smiled.

"I-love-yooooou."

That set them off. Al gathered him as close as she could. /Oh, God/. He felt so nice against her. Oddly warm from lying on the decaying leaves. She ran her fingers through his soft hair. It felt like liquid silk sliding past her digits. Frank fell still, frozen with happiness. She looked at him and let him lie down on the leaves. Their breath came quickly. Softly. She touched his face. He held her tightly against him so that every line of her body brushed his. Brown eyes rolled into the back of his head. The world was spinning around them. Or maybe it was just her head. Couldn't tell. She took his face in her hands. Pulled it against hers. God seemed to press pause. That moment was incredible. Maybe even better than the event itself. Anticipation rolled off his skin like incense. Then...with body, mind and soul shaking something fearful...she brushed her lips against his.

They kissed. And everything else dropped away into space. An empty vacuum...except them.